A delicious assortment of chopped Vegetables & Shrimp covered in a Chinese Clear Sauce for a Beautiful and Simple Shrimp Chop Suey! There is nothing like a Chinese Shrimp and Vegetable Stir Fry once in a while. Coated in a nice glistening, flavorful thickened Chinese Clear sauce that brings everything together with tender stir-fried Vegetables & plump Shrimp.
Ingredients for Shrimp Chop Suey
Shrimp, Oil, Vegetables (Napa, Onion, Carrot, Celery, Bean Sprouts, Green Onions), Chop Suey Sauce (Water, Potato Starch, Hondashi, Sugar, Sea Salt, MSG, White Pepper, Cream of Tartar).
Optionally include Mushrooms, Garlic, Ginger, and Peppers.
Shrimp
Place the Shrimp into a bowl of cold water to thaw. This should take about 10 minutes. Peel the Shrimp and strain. With Seafood, stir-fry initially with oil and your aromatics if using. Then remove the Seafood and set it aside to include in the Chop Suey towards the end, as to not overcook the Seafood.
After thawing and removing the shells. Place the Shells into a Ziploc Bag and freeze to use for other dishes.
Chop Suey Vegetables
The key to preparing the vegetables in Chinese Chop Suey, is to prep them so that they all cook up at roughly the same time. This means any hard vegetables such as Carrots & Celery need to be simmered to soften first.
A whole host of Vegetables can be used. Pretty much using up any Vegetables that need to go. Although there are some common ones found in Chop Suey that should be included.
Napa Cabbage
Peel off the outer leaves and chop into 1-inch sections. Rinse well and strain. You can get a lot of Chop Suey from 1 Napa Cabbage.
Other cabbages may be used with the Napa Cabbage or in place of, such as Bok Choy. Which is chopped into 1-inch sections the same as Napa Cabbage or Chinese Cabbage, which is sliced thinly bean sprout size.
Bean Sprouts
A good amount of Bean Sprouts really elevates Chop Suey. Bean Sprouts are added last since these cook up very fast. Only a few seconds are needed to heat through but still remain crisp.
Pick these up fresh as you decide to make Chop Suey. If there are any leftovers, place them into a bowl of water and refrigerate until needed next time. Exchange the water every day or so to keep them fresh.
If you’d rather not have to look after the bean sprouts. Then picking them up fresh as you require them or buying the canned bean sprouts is the way to go.
Onions
There are two types of onions that go into a Chop Suey. The first kind is Onions sliced into Wedges or Strips. These are cooked with the other vegetables that go into the Stir fry.
Green Onions are the other type of Onions that go into the Stir Fry. Usually at the end because these cook up pretty quickly and if overcooked take on a texture that is not pleasing at all.
Green Onions go into the Stir Fry at the same time Bean Sprouts do. Just to heat through towards the end.
Carrots
Carrots Sliced thin and on an angle, creating more surface area so that the carrots can cook up tender. These can also be sliced into very thin strips (Fine Julienne).
Aromatics
The aromatics add a nice flavor to the overall dish. Commonly, Garlic & Ginger are added for the aromatics and flavor the Oil. Shallots can be included as well. These can be minced, chopped, sliced or fine julienne.
Chop Suey Sauce
This is where all the magic happens. A Beautiful Glistening Sauce coating the vegetables. This is known as the Chinese Clear Sauce or Chinese White Sauce.
In Chinese restaurants, the Key Ingredients that go into making up Chop Suey Sauce or Stir Fry Sauce are Salt, Sugar, and MSG. These are added to the Stir fry with a bit of Water or Broth and thickened with a Slurry made of Cornstarch/Potato Starch and water.
For us, at home, all the ingredients for the Chop Suey Sauce can be combined along with the thickener and added to the Wok once the Chop Suey is ready. Optionally you can combine the starch with an equal amount of cold water to thicken the sauce at the very end.
Hondashi Chop Suey Sauce
Use a broth that is in relation to the type of protein being used. For seafood, Hondashi really is something else. Use 1 tsp to 1/2 Tbl of Hondashi with the Sauce for Shrimp Chop Suey or any Seafood Chop Suey.
Cream of Tartar
This is typically not used in Chinese restaurants. I add a 1/8 tsp of Cream of Tartar. This adds a barely noticeable acidity to the sauce, but even more so is used to protect the color of the Vegetables from fading.
Chop Suey Spices
There is not much that goes into the Chop Suey Sauce other than 1/8 tsp of White Pepper which I like to include. Optionally black pepper can be used.
You can add in the addition of Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, and a small amount of Ginger if desired in addition to the Aromatics or as a substitute.
Ingredients
- 1 lb Shrimp
- 1 C Water
- 2 Tbl Neutral Oil - optionally with 1 tsp of Sesame Oil
Chop Suey Sauce
- 1 1/2 C Water
- 2 Tbl Potato Starch
- 1/2 Tbl Hondashi & Sugar
- 1/2 tsp Sea Salt & MSG
- 1/8 tsp White Pepper & Cream of Tartar
Vegetables
- 8 leaves Napa Cabbage - Chopped in 1 inch pieces
- 1 large Onion - Sliced into Wedges or Strips
- 1 C Bean Sprouts - or more
- 1 Med Carrot - Sliced thin on an angle or fine Julienne
- 1 Stalk Celery - Sliced thin on an angle
- 2-3 Stalks Green Onions
- 4-6 Mushrooms - Sliced thin, optional
- 1 Bell Pepper - Sliced into Strips, optional
- 2 cloves Garlic - Chopped or fine julienne, optional
- 1/2 inch Ginger - Chopped or fine julienne, optional
Instructions
- Prep: Place Frozen Shrimp into abowl and fill with cold water. Set aside until thawed, about 10 minutes. Peel and set aside the shrimp once thawed. Wash and prep all the Vegetables. In a separate bowl, add the Bean Sprouts and Green Onions to be added to the Chop Suey last.Combine all the Chop Suey Sauce Ingredients together and mix. Mix again before adding to the Chop Suey.
- Hard Vegetables: Add 5 Cups of water to the wok and bring to a boil. Add hard cooked vegetables (Carrots, and Celery if including) and boil until just tender, check the tenderness, it should just be done, about 3-5 minutes. Scoop out and set aside.
- Shrimp: Place wok over medium heat. Add in 1 Tbl Oil, Shrimp, Garlic, and Ginger, if using. Ensure that the Shrimp is in an even layer. Cook for about 2-3 minutes, tossing the shrimp around every so often for even cooking. Once the shrimp takes on color and is no longer translucent, remove everything to set aside and add back in at the end.
- Stir Frying: Heat the wok up over max heat and wait until it starts to smoke. Add 1 Tbl Oil and immediately follow with quick cook vegetables (Napa & Onion, including Peppers and Mushrooms if adding). Stir-fry for about 3 minutes or until tender to your liking. Keep it moving.
- Chop Suey: Drop the heat to medium and add the previously boiled vegetables, Shrimp and aromatics, along with green onions and bean sprouts to mix through. Add the Chop Suey sauce and continue to mix until thickened, serve right away.